The USS Abraham Lincoln deployment has now surpassed 230 days at sea, with crew welfare at the centre of a growing dispute between military officials, veterans and the families of sailors aboard the carrier in the Arabian Sea.
The Lincoln left its San Diego homeport on 21 November for what was planned as a routine Pacific deployment, less than a year after returning from a 162-day deployment that ended in December 2024, according to Stars and Stripes. The carrier was subsequently redirected to the Middle East, arriving there in January, and has remained on station in the Arabian Sea since, the publication reported. It has been deployed as part of US operations in the region since 11 December.
That timeline is more than double the 111 days US Navy veteran Jonny Burnell spent aboard the USS Carl Vinson during the US war with Afghanistan in 2001. Burnell told the BBC he has been watching events unfold on the brink of tears.
Food shortages and broken plumbing reported on USS Abraham Lincoln deployment
Crew members on the Lincoln are reportedly contending with food shortages, broken plumbing and exhaustion, according to Military Times and Stars and Stripes, two publications that cover the US military. Family members of sailors onboard have expressed concern about mental health deteriorating, with some sailors having reportedly attempted to jump overboard.
A relative of one sailor told the BBC their family member had lost 65lbs (29kg) and was suffering from exhaustion caused by constant noise and vibrations. Noise was also a feature Burnell recalled vividly from his own time at sea. ‘It was just non-stop noise. The ship is just always loud,’ he said, adding that planes are always landing or taking off and guns are always firing.
Burnell, whose role as a Navy photographer allowed him to move throughout the vessel rather than being confined to one section, says many crew members aboard the Lincoln may not even get the chance to visit the top deck. Some could go long periods without seeing the sky. On the Vinson, which Burnell described as a floating prison, one colleague did everything he could to get transferred off, including selling drugs and starting an underground rave club. In Burnell’s bunk, which troops called ‘coffin racks’, there was not room to turn over.
A standard carrier operating pattern makes the current situation more unusual still. Carriers generally pull into a port every 30 to 45 days to allow for replenishment, maintenance and crew rest, Stars and Stripes reported. The Lincoln’s unbroken stretch in the Arabian Sea stands in stark contrast to that norm.
Military officials push back on USS Abraham Lincoln deployment accounts
Military officials have disputed that severe problems are afflicting the ship. Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, released a statement on Sunday saying that of the 11 active aircraft carriers in the US military, ‘the Lincoln currently has among the lowest number of cases related to mental health’. ‘This doesn’t mean all is perfect,’ he added, saying that ‘service at sea for long periods isn’t for everyone’.
Retired Navy Lt Commander Steve Rogers, Director of the Association of the United States Navy, said the media coverage was ‘absolutely outrageous’ and called the reports ‘99% hype’. Rogers, whose organisation works to support US Navy servicemembers, said he had been speaking to relatives of troops on the Lincoln and that families worrying about loved ones at war was normal. Troops have access to chaplains and mental health counsellors, he said.
A CNN crew that visited the Lincoln last month spent three days aboard and did not find widespread issues. When CNN boarded on 7 July, food was plentiful, the outlet reported, though several troops mentioned being forced to ration food and losing weight over many months. Showers were hot, although some signs of mould were visible.
Dr Harold Kudler, the former head of mental health policy for the US Veterans Administration, said the isolation of shipboard life, combined with prolonged boredom followed by periods of extreme alertness, can amplify mental health struggles. ‘You don’t know where the front is,’ he said. ‘You’re isolated. You don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. You’re not even sure what the mission is anymore. And you don’t know when you’re going to come home.’ Years of research by the Veterans Administration has determined troops and veterans are at a 50% higher risk of suicide compared to the general American population.
Kudler supports a congressional call for an investigation into conditions aboard the Lincoln. ‘The ship can only perform as well as its crew,’ he said. ‘Those 5,000 people comprise a community. Not just men and women under stress. It’s a community under stress.’
The USS George Washington has been deployed to relieve the Lincoln and is expected to arrive in the Middle East within a week. The George Washington was itself the subject of a military inspector’s investigation in 2022 after a spate of suicides while the ship was docked in Virginia. A report released in May 2023 found the Navy’s top brass had ‘let our standards slip, and in doing so we let our people down.’
